Sentence Angers Native Community

Sentence Angers Native Community

Friday, September 05, 2003 at 13:30

 

 

 

Friends and relatives of a Cree girl who was sexually assaulted by a Tisdale man two years ago spilled out of a Melfort courtroom in frustration and rage yesterday.

 

Their anger was fuelled by Judge Fred Kovach’s decision to let 26 year-old Dean Edmondson avoid jail-time, and instead be allowed to serve two years less a day in his own home.

 

Edmondson was convicted in May of assaulting the girl, who was twelve at the time, on a dark country road

just outside Tisdale.

 

However the judge stated that he found a number of aspects about the case troubling — specifically, the possibility the girl may have been sexually abused previously in her life, prompting her to act in an unpredictable manner the night in question.

 

He stated that due to these and other circumstances, jail time would be inappropriate.

 

Outside the courthouse, the victim’s relatives expressed their anger, saying the decision endangers their children.

 

Several of the supporters say the FSIN needs to get involved in the matter.

 

Dean Edmondson did not talk to reporters after leaving the courthouse.

 

Day One of his sentence began today at home in Tisdale.